Rebel Wilson apologizes for claiming to be "first ever plus size woman" to play lead in a rom-com

"I neglected to show the proper respect to those who climbed this mountain before me like Mo'Nique, Queen Latifah, Melissa McCarthy, Ricki Lake and likely many others".

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Rebel Wilson has apologized for claiming to be the "first ever plus size woman" to play the lead in a romantic comedy.

The actress received a lot of backlash after her appearance on Ellen DeGeneres's show last week where she said that she was "proud to be the first-ever plus-sized girl to be the star of a romantic comedy". Her comments on the show attracted a lot of criticism from all quarters.

Rebel took to Twitter to share, "In a couple of well-intentioned moments, hoping to lift my fellow plus sized women up, I neglected to show the proper respect to those who climbed this mountain before me like Mo'Nique, Queen Latifah, Melissa McCarthy, Ricki Lake and likely many others".

In a couple of well-intentioned moments, hoping to lift my fellow plus sized women up, I neglected to show the proper respect to those who climbed this mountain before me like Mo’Nique, Queen Latifah, Melissa McCarthy, Ricki Lake and likely many others.

"With the help of some very compassionate and well-thought out responses from others on social media, I now realize what I said was not only wrong but also incredibly hurtful," she continued. "To be part of a problem I was hoping I was helping makes it that much more embarrassing & hard to acknowledge".

Rebel Wilson (Source: Getty Images)

"I blocked people on Twitter because I was hurting from the criticism, but those are the people I actually need to hear from more, not less. Again, I am deeply sorry," she continued.

With the help of some very compassionate and well-thought out responses from others on social media, I now realize what I said was not only wrong but also incredibly hurtful. To be part of a problem I was hoping I was helping makes it that much more embarrassing & hard to-

Many people pointed out that Queen Latifah and Mo’Nique had played lead roles in rom-coms before as Wilson's response only caused more backlash. "Hey girl! Yeah I of course know of these movies but it was questionable as to whether: 1. Technically those actresses were plus size when filming those movies or 2. Technically those films are catorgorized/billed as a studio rom-com with a sole lead. So there’s a slight grey area," she replied.

Rebel Wilson (Source: Getty Images)

Mo’Nique responded to Wilson's tweet and wrote, "Hey my sweet sister. Let’s please not allow this business to erase our talent with giving grey areas and technicalities. Take a moment and know the history. DON’T BE A PART OF ERASING IT. I wish you the best".

Wilson then attempted to explain that it was not her intention to "erase" anyone or their achievement and eventually resorted to posting her apology on Monday.